In a recent video, a 56-year-old wellness creator shared how she holds onto muscle at roughly 15% body fat.
Her biggest worry? Her thighs.
Her method, she insists, is “not rocket science.”
Still, her very first step surprises most people.
Another habit, tied to bedtime, may matter even more than your workouts.
Here is her full playbook.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
Jump to:
Step One: Find Out Where Your Hormones Stand
Before touching a dumbbell or a meal plan, she recommends getting blood work done. Her reasoning is simple.
If your hormones are way off, you’re going to feel like you’re swimming upstream, and I don’t want that for you because I’m sure you’re already navigating enough.
Less than a year ago, she began hormone replacement therapy after testing. Her current setup includes:
- Estradiol patch for daily support
- Progesterone at night to help with sleep
- Testosterone shot every 9 to 10 days
That is her prescription, not a universal template. Hormone therapy is highly individual, so any plan belongs in a conversation with a qualified clinician.
She also credits thyroid support for a shift. After getting her thyroid checked and adding a natural supplement, she says she dropped about 8 pounds almost instantly. Her takeaway: get thyroid levels tested rather than guessing.
Lead Every Meal With Protein
The common advice is one gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight. She admits that target does not fit her life.
It’s not realistic for me to eat 175 g of protein each day. I’m going to tell you straight out, it is not.
Her workaround, learned from Dr. Gabrielle Lyon and Dr. Stacy Sims, is eating protein first. Many women, she explains, get full before reaching their protein goal.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
If we’re talking about muscle, lead with the protein. Eat with the protein before you get full.
Vegetarian? She points to lentils, beans, tofu, tempeh, fish, eggs and yogurt. Her favorite is a high-protein yogurt delivering about 20 grams per three-quarter cup, topped with a little honey.
She also rejects the old belief that bodies absorb only 30 to 35 grams per sitting. Her view, drawn from Dr. Lyon: you absorb what you eat. Researchers continue to debate that ceiling, so treat it as her takeaway rather than settled science.
A Day on Her Plate
- Morning: a big jug of lemon or hydration water, then one “supercharged” coffee with two scoops of chocolate whey, four espresso shots, coconut oil, ghee, red palm oil and a creamer. Roughly 20 grams of protein before training.
- Post-workout: yogurt with fruit for another 20 grams. She admits she used to skip this step because she wasn’t hungry.
- Lunch: two beef patties topped with two fried eggs, plus a side salad. Cooking time: about 7 minutes.
- Afternoon: a protein snack around 3:30, such as a bar or leftover meat. She fails at this often, she confesses.
- Dinner: well-sourced red meat, sweet potatoes and something green.
Her sweet potato method is easy. Halve it, place cut side down on a pan, drizzle with olive oil, season the skin, and bake at 350°F for 40 minutes.
Why carbs at night? She feels full and sleeps better. Her advice for anyone in their 50s, especially active people, is to include a quality carbohydrate source in the evening.
Her broader rule: stay close to real food. Powders and bars are occasional supplements, and she cooks with beef tallow or avocado oil.
Lift Weights Three Days a Week
She calls this the hardest habit for many women. Her fix: borrow experience.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
- Train with a friend who already loves lifting
- Hire a trainer short-term to learn the basics
- Treat it like a language, because it is learnable
Heavy’s relative. Heavy doesn’t mean heavy, but it does mean lift weights.
Worried about getting bulky? She says the odds are pretty low. Lifting also helps protect bone density, she notes.
Just starting out? The ship hasn’t sailed. She points to the work of Dr. Rhonda Patrick on how strength training influences muscle strength and grip strength over the long term.
Protect Your Sleep (Your Muscles Recover There)
Midlife sleep often unravels. Low progesterone can trigger 3 a.m. wake-ups, racing worries and negative thoughts.
She has never been a great sleeper, so her toolkit is well tested:
- Magnesium before bed
- Meditation, including a five-minute morning session inspired by Light Watkins
- THC gummies, which she personally uses (not right for everyone, so check with a doctor)
- One-word breathing: inhale while silently saying “peace,” then exhale and release the day
All the entertainment, all of it’s going to be there the next day. So, try to get to bed.
Her target is lights out by 10 p.m., so she is asleep by 11, when she believes recovery really kicks in. Sleep, she says, supports brain health, every body system and muscle repair.
The “Sexy Levers” Come Last
Once blood work, lifting, protein and sleep are handled, she says extras can help. Those include essential amino acids, leucine and creatine.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
She takes creatine three to four days weekly, since she sometimes forgets. Her view? Don’t chase extras while the foundations wobble.
Make Peace With Your Body
She also skips obsessing over exact gram counts, since that creates stress. Stress itself can leave you feeling watery and inflamed, she says.
Have a relationship with your vessel, a healthy one.
Her check-in is simple. Am I feeling strong? Am I feeling inflamed? How do my muscles look and feel?
Appearance shifts weekly, she adds. Some weeks bring more definition, others a softer look. None of it freaks her out.
If you have muscle or you’re building muscle, love them because they will love you back.
